Orbicella faveolata in St. Croix, USVI
The NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) conducts the long-term National Coral Reef Monitoring Program (NCRMP) to track the status and trends of coral reef ecosystems of the U.S. Atlantic and Caribbean coral reef jurisdictions. This summary brief provides an overview of the most recent survey efforts to St. Croix USVI.
| Location | 1m | 5m | 15m | 25m | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arecibo | 105,139 | 557,457 | 298,970 | 568,609 | 1,530,175 |
| Culebra | 238,140 | 211,204 | 331,928 | 306,518 | 1,087,790 |
| Jobos Bay | 605,123 | 316,687 | 622,946 | 512,922 | 2,057,678 |
| La Parguera | 622,965 | 513,059 | 362,198 | 404,737 | 1,902,959 |
| Rincon | 453,283 | 286,086 | 270,786 | 384,289 | 1,394,444 |
| Fajardo | NA | 479,577 | 178,362 | 575,034 | 1,232,973 |
## [1] "pH = 205 observatons"
## [1] "Current = 205 observatons"
## [1] "Light = 202 observatons"
Figure 1: Study sites and depths in Puerto Rico.
Three years of temperature measurements were retrieved and processed from 14 sites (depths). Temperature was measured using SeaBird Electronics Subsurface Temperature Recorders (STR)s that collected data at 5-minute intervals.
Figure 2: Temperature conditions at six locations in Puerto Rico (XX, XX, XX, XX, XX, XX) representing a depth gradient (1m, 5m, 15m and 25m). Data were collected from XX 2017 to September XX However, EXPLAIN ALL THE GAPS? THERE ARE SO MANY IN THIS ONE!.
Mean temperature values were similar among the locations and depths. The lowest temperatures generally occurred in February (mean: 26.5\(^\circ\)C, min: 24.7\(^\circ\)C, max: 28.5\(^\circ\)C) and the highest temperatures in September (mean: 29.4\(^\circ\)C, min: 25.4\(^\circ\)C, max: 32.2\(^\circ\)C).
At the XX site, XXX, additional instruments were deployed for a 72-hour diurnal suite that monitored pH, temperature, light and current speed (Fig. 3). The SeaFET pH logger, EcoPAR and Tiltmeter collected measurements at 15-minute intervals.
Figure 3: LOCATION (N 15m) diurnal suite monitoring from September 5th to 8th. Top panel: pH and temperature from SeaFET. Bottom panel: Photosynthetically Available Radiation (PAR) and current speed from EcoPAR and Tiltmeter. Grey blocks denote night time throughout sequence of the plot. Instruments measured parameters every 15 minutes.
As part of the diurnal suite, discrete water samples were collected at three-hour intervals (n=15) using Subsurface Automatic Samplers (SAS). These samples will be analyzed for Total Alkalinity (TA), Dissolved Inorganic Carbon (DIC), and Spectrophotometric pH (SpecpH). Using these metrics we can get the calculated values for pCO2 and aragonite saturation state. For more information on SAS vist https://www.coral.noaa.gov/accrete/sas/
Figure 4: Submered Automated Samplers (SAS) deployed to collect water samples every 3 hours
Figure 5: Carbonate budgets Salt River Bay in 2019 and 2022 and the processes contributing to calcification and bioerosion. Carbonate budgets declined in 2022 compared to 2019, mainly due to the reduction in coral production and the increase in urchin erosion.
The transect results showed that carbonate budgets have become negative in 2022, which implies that this site has shifted to being net erosional over the past 3 years.
Figure 6: CAU and BMU pair before retreval after being deployed for 3 years. CAUs are 2 parallel PVC plates to quantify settled accretors. BMU is mounted coral skeleton installed at the base of the metal stake and has been encrusted.
AOML’s climate monitoring is a key part of the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program of NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP), providing integrated, consistent, and comparable data across U.S. Managed coral reef ecosystems. CRCP monitoring efforts aim to:
Atlantic Climate team lead: nicole.besemer@noaa.gov
Principal Investigator: ian.enochs@noaa.gov
NCRMP Coordinator: erica.towle@noaa.gov
Coral Reef Conservation Program: http://coralreef.noaa.gov
NCRMP climate monitoring: https://www.coris.noaa.gov/monitoring/climate.html
NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/
These efforts were jointly funded by NOAA’s CRCP and OAP. We would like to sincerely thank the National Park Service as well as Caribbean Sea Adventures for supporting our field efforts and assisting monitoring surveys
St. Croix, USVI 2022 Field team
AOMLs NCRMP Atlantic and Caribbean Climate Team: I. Enochs, N. Besemer, G. Kolodziej, A.Boyd, M. Jankulak, A. Palacio-Castro, A. Webb, B. Chomitz